A Year Never To Be Forgotten
by Lucid3762
Summary: This is my first year as a high schooler and guard girl. Names and places have been changed for the sake of identity but the story remains the same. (Rated T due to mild language and, well, teenager talk)
1. Welcome to the Guard

**Hi everybody!**

**So I am completely new with this and I'm sorry this is a long chapter.**

**Slowly, I'm learning how to add in chapters, so if you think necessary, please tell me all I may need to know for posting and criticism if you believe I need it.**

**Thank you so much, and I am excited to write more stories!**

**~Lucid3762**

* * *

My first year in marching band. God, now that the season is over with, and it's only been a week, it seems like a lifetime ago when I decided to be a part of the band.

I walked into the bright cafeteria with my hands clutched around the lightweight blue and white backpack I always had during school. This was unfamiliar territory; a place I didn't dare enter, not without the safety of my friends.

Backpacks and elonged black bags were scattered on the high-rise stage, the color guard were on the white tiled floors below all engaged in their own conversation and paying me no mind. Nine, I counted; eight girls and a single boy. Scary, I told myself, never met a guy who would be proud to stand on a field in a girly suit with a sparkly flag. I set my bag down, which had finally grabbed the attention of the few below me.

"Hello there." said a Mexican-looking girl with black and obviously curly hair all packed into a high ponytail. It looked like the hair was trying to break free of the rubbery grip of the hair-tie. She wore a baseball shirt with the school symbol on her chest and an althletic skirt that matched, "How can I help you?" She beamed at me.

"Is this the color guard; the ones that goes on the field with the marching band?" I asked in my small and delicate voice, which, after ten years, I had mastered.

"Very same," said another girl. She was slightly bigger than the rest, she wore the same thing as the first girl "You're here to be in guard?"

"Yes."

The two girls that had spoken to me glanced at each other and smiled broadly,

"Welcome!" said the Mexican one, "I'm Jackie and that's Abby." She gestured to the bigger girl.

"Hi." I said feebly.

"What's your name?" asked Jackie.

"Veronica."

"That's my name!" I heard a girl in the circle say. Looking, I saw the girl in my third period.

"Hi again." I said hopping down from the stage to the floor of the cafeteria.

"I'm Ash." the guy told me. He had black hair down to his shoulders and a minor beard.

"I'm Jane." said the girl right next to him. She had long, light brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Wendy." said another girl with very long black hair.

"I'm Ellie." another girl said. Her hair was long, blond, and very curly; she sat with the other girl in a butterfly stretch.

"Danielle." the girl next to Ellie said. Danielle had shoulder length light brown, curly hair. All the girls were very pretty and we all looked excited.

Around the time we finished our introductions, my new coach walked through the doors with a large bag and an even larger smile, "Welcome girls and guy."


	2. Practice Makes Perfect

**Hello again!**

**This is a long chapter. Thank you for reading.**

**~Lucid3762**

* * *

After my first day we assigned the bags, received our practice flags and the first show flag, and met an. The practice flags were a simple red full color on a silver pole with black "cheater tape" as Jackie and Abby. Our flag for the show were also on a silver pole with black cheater tape and the flag was a lighter yellow with golden lines.

After our flags were given to us and the show flag put away, we started learning the basics on flags, drop spins were on our first day. The newest people, Veronica, Wendy, Jane, Ash, and I learned them fairly easily on the right side and were bearable on the left side. Quickly, after our first week, we could do our warm-up routine, single tosses not included. Those took the next week.

For the newbies, tosses weren't easy; our techneque wasn't correct. Yet, with hard work and a helluva lot practice, our entire warm up routine was completed and we started learning our opening for the show we would be performing named Starscapes. It was a space theme that started in a small, and not to intricate dance. We were taught the dance by our "new" choreographer Miss Nancy.

Ellie, the dancer of our group, learned the dance easily and helped Miss Nancy in figuring out the small details that may cost us points in the competition. We learned the dance fairly easily and immediately went into the flag routine for the show.

I was surprised at first, not only was it small and fairly difficult, but I thought that it would be the show; in some aspect I kind of hoped it would be it, but then again, I had never been in marching band before so show length was unknown to me until our third week on a Tuesday when I first stepped onto our turf-filled, fake grass field to start to learn our drill for the show.

First learning drill was the first time I had officially seen the band besides bringing in and taking out my flag bag where I would either been greeted by people unpacking and setting up their instruments for the long trip of memorizing Starscapes, or them being in the formation to play in the spacey room. The only people I officially knew that had wanted to be in the band were my two friends Shelly and June.

Shelly was a Mexican girl with long and mostly tangled hair that she would always keep up when playing her massive sousaphone. The large golden-colored instrument made her to be shorter than she really was and was slightly heavy with her own seal of a red mouthpiece. June was Shelly's best friend and we were introduced by Shelly in 7th grade. She's taller than me by mere inches and has light brown hair that she keeps up on most days. Her instrument of choice, clarinet, an instrument she had been playing since 6th grade. During middle school, in the tiny band we chose to be in, us three would sit next to each other seeing as how I played saxophone and the director was a kind woman who I had known since 6th grade and we had grown close.

That Tuesday, as well as every Tuesday, we would meet and learn and practice the drill for Starscapes. By the time our very first preformance came into view, we had gotten as far as the middle of part 1; much more was yet to come in the sense of music and life


	3. First Preformance

**Hello again!**

**The first performace is always a tiny bit of trouble for a new person.**

**If you've been keeping up with this story, thank you.**

**~Lucid3762**

* * *

The first performance.

God was I nervous. Although we had two quarters of the football game until we performed, I felt like I had no time left. Thoughts raced through my head. What if I mess up? What if I drop that toss? Will everyone laugh at my mistakes?

Dammit Veronica, I told myself, stop worrying. The people will love you!

Oh lord, second quarter! Thirteen minutes until we preformed. I don't know why I was so nervous, I had time, even if it passed quickly. Before I knew it, we were being herded down from the stands and around the fence onto the track circling the field.

Veronica and I exchanged glances. Surprisingly, we got close in the small time we knew each other. Jackie and Abby would comment on how we were so inseparable, which would always make us smile.

Two minutes.

Time was flying by. I saw the band form into their sections as I had seen every Tuesday to warm up with their own musical kin. I turned to my own kin, not musical, but just as important; they were in a circle with miss Nancy and Coach in the middle. I joined them and we began with our prep ritual.

It started with us all joining hands and shutting our eyes to do the pulse exercise; the reason for this was unknown to me, but I held numerous theories. Then, while we did The Pulse, Coach and Miss Nancy would stand in the middle and place mint rings in a delicate package at our feet while the other one would spray us with a scented perfume; all the while they would talked to us, give us advice, encouragement, and comfort for our nerves. After the exchanging of words, perfume, and mints, we would take deep breaths, raising our hands high into the air and breath out, realeasing our neighbors and grabbing the tiny mints that laid at our feet. With the short dresses we wore, we all had to crouch carefully without exposing to much. We would suck on the mints, instructed not to eat them in hopes that "they will be the only sucking part of the show", hence they were names Suck-Me-Nots. Upon popping the mint I our mouths, we would place the wrapper near our heart; the resoning was unclear to me besides a luck charm. Then we would do Shakes; shaking our hands and feet on eight counts, then four counts, then two, then one ending with an exstatic woo.

0:00 flashed the clock. Show time.

All-in-all it was a good show. Everyone played and marched. The saxophones were sweet, the flutes were beautiful, low brass and drumline gave us a pulse and beat of their own, and the pit gave audiences the kind side to Part 1. Everyone did so well, besides me; I wasn't on time and my toss was an extreme failure.

But no worries, practice, and soon, perfection, would come to me.


	4. Come Competition Time

**So sorry I haven't been writing! School had started on Monday and the rest was procrastination**

**I will do better on keeping up with this story**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Lucid3762**

* * *

Days flew by, practices prolonged well into the night, and our band got better.

It was now time for one of the biggest challenges we had to face; competition.

This was our first competition as a division 1 band and we believed we were ready.

River Song High School hosted the competition. It was a nice school, not too big, not too small. Green trees with green bark were scattered among the small patches of grass that lined the sidewalks.

Their football field was just as any other; only they had high school hash marks besides the collegiate hash marks we had practiced on every Tuesday since the season had started. During that competition, I had yet to learn the maneuverability of transforming to the little drill we knew.

To my luck, there was minimal wind and the sun had set by the time we stepped onto the black track that enclosed the field. My stomach would rest, I felt like someone was squeezing me and wouldn't let go; this was always a reaction I had whenever we were about to preform. I don't know if I have that feeling during the performance due my already preoccupied mind with our routine, marching, my dot, etc. It was maddening, all these things running through my mind at once seeing as how this was my first competition.

Yet, through all of the hardships brought on by marching band, I loved every second of it.

The performance went beautifully for me. I was not paying attention to others due to my racing mind. Flags twirled, music blared, and we all had fun.

One toss was messed up for me, but other than that, I noticed no wrong. Little did I know of the harsh criticism of the four judges I had failed to acknowledge.

After we had changed out of our uniforms, we all grabbed some well deserved food at the concession stand and headed across the outside of the field's fence and sat on the farthest side of bleachers. I sat with Shelly, June, Veronica, and another mellophone kid at the very top. We sat and watched the other bands perform their shows. We enjoyed the view from the backside as well as we could. No one talked, just clapped from performance to performance until the last band entered the field. It was the River Song Marching Band, which meant we had to stand during their fairly short show.

We all had short shows, I noticed to myself, we're only a month into the season.

Afterwards, everyone sat and clapped for River Song's band.

We waited. Waited for the award ceremony.

While we waited a series of random events happened.

It started with lights, flashing lights across the field, which led to a war between the two sides of who had the most lights. Then started a wave, which I don't remember who started it, but it continued.

During the wave, the band I was in would try and change it. Make it slower, make it faster, switch it, etc. It was great fun and the others would conform to it. Soon, we were watching the drum majors from every school that performed lineup into a half circle around a black-clothed table that held various plaques and trophies. It was a long wait, but it was well worth it.

"In the category of Fair," the announcer said. He listed off the names of three different schools, each drum major coming forward to claim their prize.

"In the category of Good," he continued. Again, the drum majors came forward once their school was called. The only thing out of the ordinary was the joyous screams that arose from TPC.

Once we had settled down, the announcer started back up, "Now in the category of Excellent, whom will go to the state competition, TPC High school."

He called our school! We're going to state! I screamed to myself. Our drum majors, John and Kaylee walked forwards, saluted, and received the award with a smile and handshake.

Afterwards on the bus, the seniors, guard(including me), John, and Kaylee all admired the plaque. It was a large normal wooden plaque with the words:

River Song Show of Shows

Rating of Excellent

in gold letters with a picture of the various instruments on the top in the center.

It was a good show, I thought to myself, can't wait for the next one.


	5. Authors Note (Please read)

**Hey guys!**

**So I've kind of been realizing **

**1. I'm being incredibly boring during this story**

**2. I've been misspelling a lot of things that I didn't even notice, which I'm sorry for**

**3. I hardly remember some of the stuff from the beginning of the year.**

**So, I was thinking of dropping this story and moving onto different, actual fanfic. **

**So if you guys want me to continue, please don't hesitate to post a review or however I can see it (since I'm new). Thank you to all those who has kept up with the story.**

**~Lucid3762**


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